Sporting excellence: the Blues Awards 2017

The annual Macquarie University Blues Awards, the University’s most prestigious sport-based awards ceremony, recognises and celebrates the sporting achievements of our elite student athletes in a formal event attended by academic staff, students and their families.

This year’s glittering affair was held last week on Wednesday 25 October at Curzon Hall, Marsfield. Former Olympic Gold medallist and OAM Brooke Hanson was the Master of Ceremony, with Macquarie University Chancellor Michael Egan and Vice-Chancellor Professor Bruce S Dowton (pictured below) also in attendance.

“The annual Blues Awards is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate and recognise outstanding sporting and academic achievements,” said Rob Tweddle, Acting General Manger Sport and Recreation. “This year, there are 12 Blues and six award recipients to be acknowledged by their academics, peers, alumni, family and friends.”

Female Sport Athlete of the Year – Dominique Du Toit
Dominique was a member of the squad that won Gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil, and has spent 2017 playing for Australia in the World Rugby Sevens Series. She played for the Macquarie Sydney Rays in the inaugural AON Women’s University Sevens Series. (See her pictured below receiving this year’s Chancellor’s Award)

Male Sport Athlete of the Year – Nicholas Brooks
Nicholas is a current member of the Australian Men’s National Water Polo team who recently finished seventh at the 2017 World Championships. Nicholas was selected in the Australian team to compete at the 2017 World University Games and recently attended the 2020 Olympic hopeful camp for the Australian Men’s team.

Rookie of the Year – Deanna Kyriazopoulos
This award recognises high-level sport performance by a student in their first year of study at Macquarie University. As a current member of the Australian Senior Taekwondo National Team, 46kg representative Deanna is ranked 28th in the world in her division. She made history this year as the first Australian athlete to compete at the Asian Indoor Games and she was chosen by the Australian Olympic Committee to be Australia’s first flag bearer at the event.

Club of the Year – Squash Club
This year, 2017, marks the squash club’s 50th year and they have gone from strength to strength, becoming the largest University squash club in Australia. In 2017, the club has engaged the University campus and wider community through participation in multiple on-campus events, including open tournaments, internal competitions, learn to play and social sessions.

The Macquarie University Chancellor’s Award 2017 – Dominque Du Toit (pictured below)
In addition to Dominique’s outstanding performance on the rugby field in the Australian Women’s team, which earned her the Female Athlete of the Year Award, she was also named a Macquarie University Sport Ambassador in 2017.

The John Lincoln Services Award – Yagiz Alp Aksoy from the Table Tennis Club
This award recognises long-term volunteer service to a Sports Club, Sport Program or Unisport event.

The Ted O’Keeffe Scholarship – Thomas Green
This is MQ Sport’s most prestigious scholarship. In 2017 Thomas has been racing domestically and internationally with the GPM-Stulz Racing team. After competing in nationals and the New Zealand Cycle Classic in early 2017, he is currently competing in the National Road Series and looking forward to the summer period racing in France. Tom has previously focused on the discipline of cyclo-cross where he represented Australia in the World Championships.